Pregnancy Update

I'm just about 4 months along now and showing plenty. I think it's almost to the point of making running uncomfortable, so I ordered a belly band for extra workout support.

 

Great news! I have been feeling lots of movement these past 3 days - not even 17 weeks yet. That was kind of surprising to me, but its unmistakeable. Maybe it's an act of God because it has really made me feel a connection to this baby, which I was lacking before. So it's been fun and exciting for me to feel the baby move, and even responding to me when I put my hand there and feel direct "kicks"!

 

I have something on my mind about that, I was wanting to research. Whenever you read about the fetus responding negatively to certain tests, ultrasounds, etc., it says the baby will get more active and kick out. (This happened to me personally, getting an electro-dermal testing done at the naturopath's office last pregnancy at about 7 months. Elisabeth went CRAZY in my belly, I got nauseated and headache, and we had to stop. How's that for an electric current throughout your body??)  So anyway my question is, how do you know if a baby's kicking is good, or if they are in stress or discomfort? Maybe a baby is in discomfort more often than we realize. but I'm not sure what would inflict that other than maybe certain foods, noise?? but in all my pregnancies I usually feel the kicking when I am resting so that wouldn't make much sense. What do you readers think?

 

Anyhow I am reading the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing, with a lot of mixed feelings. I have a big decision to make; or maybe it's not my decision at all and I will have to surrender to E's needs.... It seems very sweet, but also so much work and perhaps exhausting to my physical energy level (as well as emotionally...and I don't need to be irritable and resenting my toddler when I have a baby to care for). I work from home 2-3 hours a day which we need for income, plus going to the gym, and I just don't think I could keep up with all that (but then again, maybe a change of seasons is in order and I need to stay home and focus on mothering more?)  My other fear is that if E is still nursing when my milk comes in, she will certainly not wean anytime soon! Should I just do it while I have a chance? She was getting close to weaning at first (with my supply dwindling) but then she came back with a vengeance, very determined to get some milk. She loves that milk!!

Vacation Update

Well I ate 100% raw for 4 days, I think, and had a lot of detox symptoms those 4 days. I wanted to slow it down a bit so I had some cooked vegetables, then another raw day, etc. for a few days. Monday I had a long, exhausting trip and I was thinking I had to get rid of those detox symptoms so I could have strength to handle the stress of it. That was a very smart idea, as that trip took such a toll on me. The flight was already after my kid's bedtime but it was delayed 90 minutes, plus we had to wait on the tarmac for 30 minutes once we got there (at midnight). Wow, it was just a crazy crazy day. 

 

Now I am with my family in Las Vegas and I have been eating one small cooked meal per day such as quinoa salad, beans or hummus, etc.  and the rest fruit and raw veggies. My energy has not been great, but it's been tolerable. I am not sure if I am still detoxing or if it's just dehyration/heat from being here and adjusting to a new climate, plus 2 bad nights sleep in a row! I probably just need an adjustment.

 

I went to workout yesterday even though I felt a bit lethargic and it did feel good once I started, and I felt energetic for a couple hours afterward but then I totally crashed! It is rough not having my husband with me... the hardest part of being tired when I'm pregnant is not being able to sleep when I am tired, if I have a child to take care of. My daughter is still a nightowl and doesn't care that I am ready for bed at 8.

 

So my goals have changed a bit - I am still just eating as much raw as possible, lots of veggies, as healthy as possible so I don't put on crazy weight while on vacation. My main concern was not falling for the snack foods, bagels, etc. and am doing great so far. I am in luck--lots of fruit on sale, my mom is stocking the kitchen like crazy and very accomodating to our fruit diet. She even gave me the compliment of all compliments yesterday "I can't believe how much fruit you can eat!" :-)  but she joined me in a smoothie dinner last night. I cooked an awesome low-fat vegan fajita soup for my brothers and children and I didn't have a single bite! But it sure made me feel good to see that whole huge pot disappear and my brothers (and picky son) saying how delicious it was (my food is usually far from popular)!

100% Raw Challenge

My friend Sherah from http://fitrawpregnancy.blogspot.com/ challenged me to a 100% Raw phase (although I am not sure how long... maybe that's because I didn't commit... heehee). She is pregnant also, 6 weeks further along than me.

I had been thinking about taking the cooked foods out of my diet for a while because pregnancy is just so much easier when you don't have a heavy belly from eating cooked meals. Granted I was only eating 1-2 cooked meals (of 5-6 meals) per day, but it also affects how you feel the rest of the time, primarily because the fruit won't digest as smoothly if there is cooked food still in the gut from the day before. So I'm left "showing" much more than is accurate.

All through first trimester, I felt much better when not eating oils and heavy meals. But after these last 2 pregnancies, I just don't know if I could eat raw in first trimester. It's like you feel so emotional and tired, you just need something to give. You just want to eat foods you're craving. It's your time to party and you don't care! (At least I don't hold that attitude into 2nd and 3rd trimesters but a lot of women do! I guess it's a matter of motivation and luckily for me, I get motivated again after first trimester passes. Also luckily for me I workout, so I only gained 4 lbs in my first trimester this time as opposed to 10 lbs last time! uhh yeah a 1st trimseter uterus does NOT weigh 10 pounds.)

Anyway the other reason I was interested in eating all raw is because I'm headed out of town, back home to my family, for a few weeks; and every time I go home I put on at least 5 pounds!! Thank you, processed food. Not that I'm against gaining weight but obviously it should be done gradually and realistically (reflecting the weight of the pregnancy, not the indulgences of pregnancy). So the best way not to care about it is to remove myself far from it, mentally. I wanted to clear out that crap before going home, so that I wouldn't have withdrawals and cravings while I am there.

Anyway if anybody is concerned about me, I want you to know I eat 3,000 calories a day and that is plenty to cover my workouts, my pregnancy, my household chores, and my minimal milk supply :) I have gained 4 lbs so far and so I would say I am doing well, on target for a 20-25 lb. pregnancy gain.

I was happy with my energy levels and health eating high-fruit, low-fat (with those cooked meals) but it will be interesting to see what difference this makes. When I go off eating raw, the changes come so gradually that sometimes I think I still feel great when actually I don't, and I don't notice the difference until I go raw again and then feel so dramatically more energetic. But other than energy I will say, I just feel a lot cleaner. I wake up feeling much more refreshed, if I went to bed on an empty stomach (and without cooked food in my gut).

So today is day 3 of this 100% Raw Challenge. I definitely felt some detox the past two days but nothing dramatic, I still did my work-outs and household chores. I will say, the detox for me is largely emotional. So I have definitely been feeling it.

Fitness Goals

Whenever I go to a race I can't help but notice the definition in other runners' legs! My legs do not look like that. Sure, running has developed my calves a bit but that's all. How do you get these runners thighs? Ahh they are gorgeous! My thighs are still so flabby! But even when I was down to 14% body fat 18 months ago, I didn't have any muscles showing, just sticks (now I am back to jiggly and rubbing against each other).

 

Today at the gym I tried the Stair Stepper for the first time. I was looking in the mirror and realized I could see my quads in action! Big selling point. I need to do more of that quad work, and I am also doing some leg presses for glutes/quads. I have been doing the same workouts all year now, and could use some new muscle group work.

 

Part of me just wants this triathlon over with because I am not a fan of biking and I would really just do the workouts I want rather than feeling the pressure to be/stay fit on all 3 of these sports. I love kickboxing but I only go once a week, if that, because of these 3 other workouts I do. And yes I need to get around to doing more weights! Funny, there is just too much to do. And you have to keep up with it or you lose it. I have to do a long run every other week, for fear I will lose my running conditioning (although I have to go a few months without running anyhow, pre-baby and post-partum...but just wanting to make that time off window nothing more than it has to be).

 

So I'm going on vacation for a few weeks and will only have my Y membership (120-degree outdoor runs? no thanks) and no kickboxing class so I can focus on triathlon sports and weights. After the triathlon I will probably be down to light jogging and walking so we'll transition into weights, hill walking, and something goofy like step aerobics. I've seen 3rd trimester ladies lifting weights but I think I would need a private lesson... well, fun times ahead! Learning some new stuff. The main goal is just go to get active for an hour about 4x/week and keep my muscles and cardiovascular system active.

If it Acts Like a Stimulant...

Ok I am going to get on my soapbox here and tell you all what I think about certain controversial substances some may call "superfoods" but are actually stimulants and are very harmful to the body.

There are a lot of health nuts out there of various breeds. A lot of them, unfortunately, are horribly misinformed.

I don't know when nature began picking apart foods as God made them and isolating molecular substances, but this certainly is not natural. The word "natural" does not belong on any food package, period. And hence, these substances are not meant as fuel for our bodies.

If a person begins a certain regime and feels amazing the first day, that isn't nutrition you are feeling, that is a hormonal effect of what you're doing. It takes time for your body to get nourished from years of abuse. Healing does not happen overnight. If you suddenly feel a huge wave of energy, that is a red flag. Go ahead and enjoy it, but you will crash later on. Real health does not come in manic phases.

When you are healing you will know, because you will feel well consistently day after day, hour after hour. You will not feel drained, exhausted, or achey. You may not experience super duper highs anymore, but that is for the better. Now you can trust your body's signals and know for a fact what you're feeling is real.

When I first got into raw foods and did juicing, supplementing and superfoods, I would have manic depression almost. I was very unstable. I thought it was detoxing and healing, but guess what? A year passed, two years passed... and I wasn't actually any healthier than when I began. As a matter of fact I got systemic yeast (candida) throughout my body which killed my gut and introduced digestive problems for the first time ever (thanks to the "raw food diet").

But when I began the 80/10/10 program I really learned about health and about myself as well. The first month I was pooped; slept a lot and hardly exercised. This was healing; this was the time it took for a good turnaround. The second month I began to feel better than ever; I was off my probioic and my digestive issues were gone. My energy leveled out and I was very active, working hard without breaks from 7am to 10 pm and would then get a good nights sleep. The other huge benefit was how easily I got into shape - I had been trying to exercise for years and was just so tired and my body wasn't progressing at all; I wasn't enjoying it. But on the low-fat, high-fruit diet, my body quickly recovers from a difficult workout and moves onward in the training schedule much quicker than expected for most new athletes. The energy in workouts is amazing - and I'm not talking manic highs. I just mean that a workout will not burn you out when you're feeding yourself the correct diet. Your endurance is incredible, you can practically go forever without much soreness, and being ready again the next day.

Super foods and magic potions might make you feel like superman the first day but actually they are destroying your adrenals. For more information on stimulants and nerve energy, go to this article and read the book "Nutrition and Athletic Performance." I also recommend the FoodnSport website to read all the wonderful interviews with real people and athletes who eat and thrive on 80/10/10!

Running Pregnant

Well I am 15 weeks pregnant and back to feeling fairly normal, although still if I do a hard workout I will need the next day off. I can't feel any belly when I am working out but I think I only have a month or so before it starts hindering me.

 

I ran 10 miles Wednesday, it felt awesome. I just can't explain the feeling of accomplishment that comes with a long endurance run. It gets addicting and you just want that number to go higher each time. The longest I've run was about 17 miles once, and several 13+ mile runs. But being pregnant I am happy with 10 as my upper limit, unless I do a slow half-marathon (it would be cool, but there are no options right now unless some friends organize our own). Besides, I have a 2-hour childcare limit at my gym and I was 5 minutes late! (my actual run was 1 hr 48 mins, but I take a lot of bathroom/stretching breaks!)

 

Then today was a 10K race. Here are some photos from that. My time was 69 minutes, about 10 minutes slower than I ran it pre-pregnancy. After the race, they did a 1-mile fun run which my son joined me for. The winners are based on accuracy of predictions, and the runners can't wear watches. So it was actually pretty fun to predict your pace and adjust it for certain paranoias... I ended up 20 seconds off my prediction and got 2nd place. 

Durian Rider

I am so thankful for Harley, the "Durian Rider." He just cracks me up so much. I am 100% behind him all the way. This post is just so true. You might have to subscribe to his blog to get it, he's really loud and "in your face" but hey, he's got the correct information and he shouts it loud and clear!

My cute kiddos

I don't put photos up on this blog very often, so I thought I'd give you a treat. I got a good SLR camera last year and have only recently been taking a lot of pictures. Here are my cutie kiddos.

R just turned 6 years old! He has lost 4 teeth. He loves to play basketball. He eats a gluten-free diet and also avoids oats, dairy, corn, and peanuts. His favorite raw foods are cantaloupe, trail mix, and strawberry smoothies. We're homeschooling, and he is in 2nd grade. His favorite books are the Junie
B. Jones series.
E will soon be 3 and wants to do everything for herself, of course. Her favorite activity is dancing, and her favorite raw foods are bananas, bananas, and bananas. She doesn't have any health or behavioral issues like my son did when he was younger, so I am a bit more lenient on her diet (she loves crackers!) She loves talking about mammals. Her favorite books are anything with animals, Goodnight Moon, and Sandra Boynton.

Update: 13 weeks

This week was pretty good. I have broken free from the bonds of first trimester! I survived! And I am feeling pretty normal again...except now I am starting to feel something in my tummy, almost getting uncomfortable.

I went to the new Trader Joe's store this past week and fell for some of my old favorites. I have been craving egg rolls but could never find vegan ones, so of course I had to buy those. I didn't read the label though, and it turned out they have lots of soy, which I am allergic to. So I had severe indigestion that night and was very lethargic the next day (hence no workout on Thursday). But other than that I was feeling good and stable all week, no longer needing to rest during the daytime.

My workouts:
Mon - jog 3 miles + 25 mins uphill walking and boxing (60 minutes)
Tues - swam laps (50 minutes)
Wed - bike ride (60 minutes)
Thurs - off
Fri - jog 9 miles (105 minutes)
Sat - swam laps (40 mins)

The other noteworthy thing is that my daughter is suddenly nursing again, with a vengeance. I have mixed feelings. I am ready to be done any time, but I don't really mind. It seems that she is not ready to be done, so I am trying to accomodate and have a good attitude. I don't have much milk, which makes me wonder why she still loves it so much. She tells me she needs to drink the milk and I guess she just waits and waits for it to come. We had been doing so good with night weaning but she is back to nursing in bed, almost like she gave it a shot but ran back to her security blanket. It took a few tries with my son too, so it's okay with me. I think learning something new and getting comfortable with a new emotional routine takes 2 steps forward and 1 step back. We just need to be patient and loving as we seek to meet their needs.